Highway guard fence



4haflalt'cll 8, 1932. A, B 00m/ELL HIGHWAY GUARD FENCE Filed March 24,1950 Piaiten'tedy Mar. 8, 1932 iiazieFw yintuir713;"nowiizun,or sa'.LotisivifissoUni i HIGHWAY santini FENCE Y imputation med March 24, iesasiai No, 438,306.

Y inventionv relates toz new Yand useful improvements in theconstruction o' road t guardsand fences.y

' rails.;

rvl-Ieretorfore roady if'guards ofv the typeA whichthis inventionrelates have been made generally offV wood construction and 'con-fsist-ed loi' wooden uprights drivenk 'into the Vground atrv regularintervals andvliaving one or morehori'zontally disposed rails extendngdbetween each pairoir' adjacent uprights andibolted or .nailedthereto. Both the posts andr the rails had to bemade of heavy lumberandhad torbe dressedand painted. Asr a large numberof such guards is; usedthe eX- penses yot construction andmaintenance .is

very great. The uprights andrails have to be painted regularly whichisquite anitem in the cost of maintenance, kand the bolts or nails used tosecure the rails to the uprights will rust in the course of time andhave ,to be replaced and will also cause decay of the Furthermore,where-such lumber is treated witha preservative, Vit cannot be paintedsatisfactorily andis unsightly andv not readily visible in the dark.

Thejobjects of the present invention are to provide uprights; ofreinforced concrete adapted to beanchored in theVv ground and havingtheir exposed portions provided with suitable recesses into which areadapted to i' belreceiveddand anchoredther'ein the'ends of thehorizontally disposed rails.V The, recesses are arranged in pairs, eachpair being arranged onI the same-horizontal plane and preferablyarranged in communication with each. other whereby the respective endsof .the rails can be interengaged or interloclred lvided with oneorpinore pairs of recesses, each pair of recesses being arrangedfonthesame horizontal plane andin dier'entfaces of the upright,aiidlt'orprovided rails having re- Ci'ucingendstting intosaid recessesand `having:said reduced ends provided with suit'- able ,longitudinally`arranged projections whereby tliefadjoiningfends of each pair vofrailscan be iiterlocked, thereby holdingsfaid rails againstdisengagement rrom said up? right. y 'Y j' yStill other objects oit theinvention are to provide uprights" of reinforced concrete hav?.ingtheii' upper portions provided with rtwo recesses disposed inthedit'erent sides of saidl upright and arranged on thesame horizontalplanefwith` each other,y and to provide rails of reinforced concrete7each of said rails havingformed at each. end a reduced extensionV whichfits looselywithin the recess of the Lupright', while the' vertical Wallof each end is kiny abutting Contact with the corresponding recessedside Wall'of Vsaid upright, and to provide.,ineansnforanchoringV saidreduced exfL tensions with-insaidrecesses.

Vith these and other objects in view, my i l invention consists, incertain novel features cofy of construction and arrangement of parts,

hereinafter more fully described andclainied,Y and illustrated in the`accompanying vdrawkings7 invwhfich Y 2 i Figure lis alfraginental front'elevational viewbf Vafroad guard of my improved construction. f l 1 iFigure 2 isV an enlarged. front elevational view of. one of theuprights, the upper portion thereof being broken away to showfthc eifidsof the rails seatedY in? the recesses there- O Y 4 v Figure 3 Ais avertical crossv sectiontaken transversely vthrough the rails andfshowin`one of the uprightsiinzelevation.

igure 4 is an enlarged Vhorizontal cross section taken through'theuprightand show-- inggthe ends-of the'rails in elevation. Figure v5` isan` enlargedlperspective detail view showing one end of the rail of myimproved construction. h

Figure 6 is a similar view showing the other end of said rail.

i Figure 7 is aV horizontal cross section through a corner construct-ionshowing the arrangement of recesses and rails.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, 10 indicates aplurality of uprights formed of reinforced concrete and 11 indicatesrails disposed horizontally between each pair of uprights and havingtheir ends seated therein. Each'upright v10 has preferably parallelvertically disposed sides12 and obliquely disposed front and -`rear`sides 14. Each upright is reinforced by a `pair of substantiallyU-shaped steel barsl. which kare spaced from each other and are embeddedin the upright with the ends terminatng in the lower end of the uprightand with the curved portionof each reinforcing bar arranged in the upperend of thek upright as shown in Figure 8. Preferably the upper end ofthe upright is curved to correspond with the disposition of the curvedportions of bars 15. The lower portion of each upright is adapted to beanchored in the ground as shown at 16 and in locating the uprights inposition lthehole is preferably du larger than the cross sectional areaof eac u right so that concrete can be poured in the ole and around saidupright, thereby roviding a bed of concrete 17 which securey anchors theupright inV position and increases the weight of the lower end thereofso as to enable it to withstand more successfully impacts deliveredthereagainst.

' Eachfside wall 12 ofthe upright is provided with one or morerecesses18 and the recesses of one side wall are arranged on the same horizontalplanes with the recesses on theo positeV side so that the bottom walls18* o each pair of kcorresponding recesses yis substantially on the samehorizontal'plane. The recesses of onev side of each upright are ofgreater height than the krecesses of theother side, thereby providingclearance openings 18".

The rails or horizontal bars 11 extend between each pair of uprights 10and each rail isv provided with reduced ends 19, thereby formingshoulders 11a. The reduced ends 19 are inserted into correspondingrecesses 18 of the spaced uprights 10. The cross sectional area of eachend 19 is considerably less than the cross sectional area of lthe recess18 so that said ends can be readily intherail The ends of rod 21 extendbeyond the reduced ends 19 and one end of said rod is formed to providea horizontally disposed eye 22 while the other end of the rod is shapedto provide a downwardly presented hook 24. The length of each reducedend 19 is less than the depth of recess 18 and the distance betweenshoulder portion 11'* and the axis of the eye 22 is equal tothe distancebetween the shoulder portion 11 and the axis of hook 24. Thus when thereduced ends 19 of the adjoining rails l1 are inserted in the respectiverecesses, hook 24 of one rail engages the eye 22 of the other rail,thereby tying said rails together. This arrangement unies the structureso that the strain limparted to one of the rails is transmitted not onlyto the corresponding uprights but also to the adjacent rails and throughthe latter'to the other uprights. In

this manner a strong yconstruction is provided which will successfullywithstand any impact or blows to which the roadguard may be subjected.In the assemblage ofy the rails, the hooks 24 are arranged to occupyrecesses "18 which, being of greater height', have suiiicient clearanceto permit movement of the hook portions in vertical plane when bringinghooks 24 into engagement with eyes 22;

In the corner construction shown in Figure 7 one set of recesses 18'isarranged 1n the front wall 14a at right angle to therecesses 18 of theside wall 12. Preferably this front wall 14 is formed vertical the sameas the side vwall 12 instead of oblique as in the preceding form. Thearrangement and method of securing the rails in position issubstantially the same' as in the form just described. f As shown in thedrawings, rails 19 are used in pairs, the members of each pair beingspaced vertically from each other. However, if so desired, only one railmay be used or three or more rails, if necessary. Where the constructionis used for fences, the uprights 10 are of the required height and therails 11 are spaced a suitable distance from each other to receive thefencing.

Asboth the upri hts and the rails-are formed of vreinforce concrete,they can be economically manufactured and can be made of an desiredstrength and shape. When place in position the metal portions, namely,eyes 22 and hooks 24, are located within recesses 18 and are sealedtherein and there is no metal left exposed to the weather.

As my improved roadguard or fence formedr of concrete, it is of stronganddurable construction and the cost and maintenance thereof isreducedto aminimum.

I claim:

1. A roadguard construction comprising in combination, a pair ofuprights off reinforced concrete, each of which is provided in its twowalls with aligned and communicating recesses, and rails yof reinforcedconcrete, each of which is provided vat each end with a tenon, one tenonbeing provided with a metallic eye and the other end with a metallichook where- Vby the yends of two adjoining rails can be lockedkwith eachother within the communieating recesses of said uprights.

2. )A roadguard construction comprising in combination, a pair ofuprights of reinforced concrete, each of which is provided in itsopposite sides with recesses, each pair of recesses being arranged onthe same horizontal plane and in communication with each other,

and rails disposed horizontallyV between said uprights, the end of eachrail being reduced in cross section and fitting loosely into one of therecesses, one reduced end of each rail being providedwith anV eye memberembedded` in said rail and extending therefrom' and the other end ofsaid rail being provided with a hook embedded in said rail and extendingtherefrom whereby the ends of two adjoining rails can be interlockedwhen occupying the aligned recesses, the recess being enlargedinavertical plane'to permit upward displac ment of said end of the railpreparatory to the seating of the hook into the eye of the rail engagingthe other recess, the space between said reduced ends and said recessesbeing filled with suitable material to close said spaces andseal saidhook and eye portions.

In a construction of the class described, l

the combination of uprights of reinforced concrete provided on theiropposite ysides with recesses arranged in pairs, the recesses of eachpair being arranged on the opposite sides of the upright in a horizontalplane and communicating with each other, and rails of reinforcedconcrete having reduced ends adapted to be seated in said recesses, eachrail being provided with a centrally disposed metal rod, the ends ofwhich project beyond said reduced ends and terminatein a hook and eyerespectively whereby the ends of the adjoining rails occupying thecommunicat-ing recesses are locked together through the interengagementof said eye and hook portions, the recess receiving .the hook end of therail V being enlarged iuowardlyV to permit upward displacement of thehook end of the rail preparatory to the engagement of said hook with theeye of the adjacent rail.-

4. In a construction of the class described,

the combination of yuprights of reinforced concrete provided on theiropposite sides with recesses arranged in nairs, the recesses of eachpair being arranged on the opposite sides of the upright in horizontalplane and communicatingwith each other, rails of re inforced concretehaving reduced ends adapted to be seated in said recesses, a centrallydisposed metal rod arranged kin each rail and having its ends projectingtherefrom, one end of said rod terminating in a hook andthe other end ofsaid rod terminating in an' eye,

